Thursday, September 13, 2012

SHELLY MANNE

Shelly Manne’s combo known as Shelly Manne & His Men had seen several personnel changes in the nine years that he had been recording for Les Koenig’s Contemporary Records label. In that time the one constant in the group was Russ Freeman on piano. Shelly’s current combo that was taped for this third program in the Jazz Scene USA series included Conte Candoli on trumpet, Richie Kamuca on tenor sax and Monty Budwig on bass.

The jazz club scene in Los Angeles had changed radically from its halcyon days in the 1950s. Clubs like The Haig, Jazz City, Zardi’s and The Tiffany Club were long gone or had dropped a jazz policy. Partly out of frustration with this state of affairs Shelly Manne decided that the only way to guarantee a decent venue for jazz musicians was to create it and own it, thus was born Shelly’s Manne-Hole at 1608 North Cahuenga Boulevard. Jazz was not new to these walls as the premises had formerly been The Lamp, a coffee house that booked jazz combos. The Lamp was one of the first steady gigs that Les McCann had before he moved to The Bit and formed Les McCann Ltd.

The full thirty minute show was released on VHS tape by Shanachie in 1994, and later DVD versions appeared on the market. YouTube subscribers have posted segments of the four tunes performed on the show, links provided below.